Despite most of the international community criticising Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and for flaunting international conventions, the country’s embassy in Canberra has paid for an advertisement in which it condemns Australia for contributing to “Russophobia”.
In the advertisement, published in The Canberra Times, it also blames Russia’s critics for not accepting Russian foreign policy and dismisses as absurd claims Russia had any involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and the almost fatal nerve agent poisoning of British-based former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
It says it is fanciful to suggest Russia is an “aggressor” or a cyber threat.
This is another devious attempt to deflect from the real issues. That’s the cornerstone of Russian foreign policy.
Russia recently upped the ante in its fight to retain Crimea, which it illegally annexed five years ago.
In late November it fired on three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait, capturing them and unlawfully holding 24 Ukrainian sailors as political prisoners. The idea was to test the world’s reaction.
The more it carries out such tests, the more dangerous the situation in Ukraine becomes and the more fragile European and even world peace become.
Read the full article on the Australian.
This was an Op-Ed piece written by our Chairman, Stefan Romaniw, published in the Australian on January 2nd, 2019.
